CHAPTER Three   “The Starting Line”

 

It had been a week.

That many days had passed and neither Leo nor Jisoo was planning to crack. Jisoo continued to follow Leo around until she had to leave for some other business. She even followed him to his house until he slammed the door in her face.

Jisoo decided she should start early and headed to Leo’s house. She was skipping around, humming a tune that she did not know where she got it from. Thankfully, on the way there, she had met up with Leo.

“Good morning!” Jisoo chirped.

“My morning was okay, until I saw you.” Leo retorted.

“Does it hurt to say good morning back? Or at least a nice hello?” Jisoo questioned.

“Does it hurt to stop bothering me every day of the week?” Leo asked back.

“Oh come on, I’m telling you it’s not hard!” Jisoo said as she turned around and started to walk backwards.

“You are going to hurt yourself.”

“You never even gave me a chance to explain to you what the favor was.”

“You are going hurt someone else.”

“All you have to do is accompany me in my agency. You know simple works that I have to do that I can’t really do.”

“There is someone coming your direction.”

“You know as a girl it’s hard doing everything by myself and you’re the only person I know that spends almost every day doing nothing.”

“Be-” Leo started but it was too late when Jisoo had bumped into someone behind.

“Oh! Sorry!!” Jisoo apologized as she turned around to see these two big men in black suits. Jisoo’s apologetic smile disappeared and slowly backed away.

“Ma’am… We are here to-”

“I suggest you run if you don’t want to die.” Jisoo cut the man off and grabbed Leo’s arms and began to run.

Leo didn’t really process what was going on but the fact that the very cheerful and happy-willed spirit was gone and had such a serious face on, he knew there was something wrong. Therefore, without knowing, he had led the way to ad different road to make It harder for the men to follow. This chase began until Jisoo pulled Leo to a different street and into a storage room. She opened the door, locked the door before the men had any idea that they were inside and pushed Leo against the wall behind the door. Both of them stood by the door holding their breath until they no longer heard any noises from outside. Jisoo was the first one to let out her breath and fall to the floor. Leo sat down next to her and tried to catch his breath as well.

“Why did we have to run again?” Leo asked.

Jisoo didn’t reply but she got up and searched through the boxes that were in the room.

“What are you a rich girl on a run?” Leo awkwardly joked. He rarely joked which is why he thought it sounded awkward in every way possible.

“I am.” Jisoo silently answered.

“Okay, I get my joke wasn’t funny but yours isn’t funny either.” Leo said as he got up and looked into one of the boxes. It had bunch of clothings that probably belonged to a high school girl.

“Who said I was joking?”

“Is it alright to rummage through boxes that don’t belong to you?”

“Who said this didn’t belong to me? How do you think we got in here?” Jisoo questioned back holding out a key.

“Wait… so you are a rich girl on a run?”

“AH I FOUND IT! I knew it was somewhere here!” Jisoo said as she held up a pair of sneakers.

“Why do you need those for?”

“Because my feet feel like they are going to rip into ten thousand pieces.” Jisoo said as she sat down. It was then Leo noticed Jisoo was in one of her pumps and her feet was practically all bloody.

“Why didn’t you tell me your feet were hurting?” Leo asked.

“What are you going to do if I did tell you? We were in the middle of running away from strange people.”

“Let me go get some ointment.” Leo said as he headed towards the door. Jisoo stopped him by grabbing onto his wrist with her hands.

“Don’t leave here, they can be anywhere nearby. They always do this… there should be a first aid kit somewhere in here…” Jisoo said as she let go of his wrist and tried to get up.

“I’ll look for it. Don’t do anything to your feet until I find some ointment and band aide.”

“If you can find it, that is.”

“This happens often?” Leo asked as he searched by the cabinet on the other side of the room.

“Pretty much, at least once a week ever since I left home in high school, I think.” Jisoo answered watching Leo search for the kit with all great concentration.

“Why did you leave home anyways? If you are rich and they want you home, then you should be happier there no? Everyone in this world wants to be in your shoes.”

“But I’m not like everyone… I don’t like being in a rich family and people treating me well because I am rich. It disgusts me and it’s annoying.”

Leo didn’t say anything afterwards. He couldn’t think of the right things to say to someone who just said that her family background was disgusting and annoying.

“All these things… my parents keep sending them to me; I haven’t worn any of them. Well minus these sneakers I’ll put on.” Jisoo stated to interrupt the silence.

“Why won’t you wear them?” Leo said with a smile on his face after his successful finding of the first aid kit.

“Because that would mean I am the spoiled rich girl that everyone will see me as.” Jisoo answered as she closed her eyes in pain when Leo poured the hydrogen peroxide on her feet to disinfect the wounds.

“What is there to hate about being rich though?” Leo asked as he carefully applying ointment.

“I don’t think you would want to hear the story though.”

“Why would I not want to hear it?”

“Because you think everything I say is stupid and unreasonable.”

“Maybe I do but I can listen.”

“I don’t want to say it.”

“Why not?”

“Because you will know my biggest secret." Jisoo whispered.

“Something you don't want people to know?"

“We'll I don't mind having people know... It's just that when I think the person is ready for me and my secret and I tell them, they all just laugh and walk away."

“Well that's mean..."

“That's why I won't tell you."

“But you and I aren't that close so even if I leave your life it's not a big deal." Leo explained and Jisoo frowned.

What he's saying is true... I don't really mind not having him around. But I need to stay around me so I can find out about his string... Maybe this would be a good time to explain to him why he should help me...

“When I was ten years old, my school took the whole fourth grade to the zoo. I had never been to the zoo so I was so excited. My parents bought me new clothes and shoes to wear just so I could go have the time of my life. They also paid for the lunch that we had. All my friends were so happy I was in their grade. My teacher gave out a balloon and I had a special gold one that my teacher got. I was so happy but while I skipped around as I talked with my friends, I let go of it by accident. I wanted to keep the balloon; apparently I wanted to show my family. So I went after it." Jisoo said with a low and calm tone.

“Why use apparently?" Leo asked.

“The thing is I don't even know if that's how it happened. That's what I've been told." Jisoo answered.

“What does that mean?"

“It means I had a car accident. I don't remember anything from that day so I know as much as you know. Practically nothing."

“What does this have to do with you running away from home?"

“Apparently when I hit the car, I landed on the floor with my head and the floor had a lot of glass shards. When I landed, most of them went into my eyes. So when the bleeding began, I couldn't use my eyes anymore and I needed transplant. I guess being rich was good... My parents paid a lot for my transplant but it was done successfully even before it became a week after the accident."

“I still don't get why you ran away..." Leo complained.

“That's the background. The real secret starts now." Jisoo stated.

"After the surgery, it took me a week to recover. When I was allowed to remove my bandages, I began to see things. Not like ghosts but strings.”

“Strings? I think seeing ghosts would be better.” Leo joked. Jisoo stared at Leo who chuckled at his joke by himself.

“At least if I saw ghosts, I would scare people away. Seeing these strings made me a laughing stock. I told my parents who thought I was crazy and took me to mental hospitals to another for weeks. My parents paid the teachers to look after me more so I don’t say anything stupid about seeing strings. This continued until when I got into my third year of middle school. I had this friend who was friends with me for the longest time ever. She was always by my side and playing with me. I thought it would be okay to tell her my secret. So I did. It was the biggest mistake of my life. She thought it was ridiculous and told everyone in school I was crazy and that it was because of the accident. One by one they started to make fun of me. All this time they were afraid of me because my parents had money but this gave them courage to go against me and treat me like garbage.”

“But you guys were kids; you have to let that slide. Plus your parent didn-”

“When this happened, my parents were furious. They thought it will affect their reputation so they decided to donate money to the school so they can create a better cafeteria and sports field. After that happened, no one made of fun me. They didn’t have the courage. When I got into college, I didn’t talk about the strings, everyone just thought that it was some lie that someone who was jealous of me made up. I became the infamous rich girl again. But I realized what the strings were showing. Do you know the story of the red strings?”

“You’re tied to your soul mate right?”

“Yeah… I found out when I decided to look it up and there was this folklore about it. I can’t touch it or break it, but I can see it. So I decided to try and get people together. That’s how my business started.”

“I still don’t get why you left home though. To me you sound like a teenage girl who is just spoiled and wants to do everything her way so she’s just using that excuse to get what she wants.” Leo stated looking at Jisoo with a straight face.

“You think I wanted this?”

“I don’t care if you wanted this or not. But apparently you do so why don’t you tell me, where is my string headed?” Leo asked with a sarcastic voice.

“I don’t know…”

“Why not? You said you see it so you should tell me where mine leads that way I can find the love of my life!”

“Stop talking like that!”

“Why? Because I’ll find out that what you are saying is just bull?”

“No because then I’ll have to tell you that your ing soul mate is no longer there with you.”

Silence overtook the room. Jisoo was on the verge to cry as she looked at Leo who looked like he could blow up any second.

“Bull…” Leo whispered.

“You think I’m just doing this because I’m spoiled and want to have everything my way? Have you ever thought how I felt about trying to break couples up because you know how they will end up if they continue to be together? Have you ever thought how I felt when you had to see your best friend’s strings snap in front of your eyes and not being able to see it afterwards? Have you ever thought how I felt when I walked into your café and noticed how you didn’t have your strings? Have you ever thought about how I feel to get you to talk about your past so you can move on?” Jisoo said as tears slowly dropped down her cheeks.

Leo clasped his hand into a tight fist and hit it hard against the wall. With her eyes round, Jisoo scurried over to Leo’s fist and tried to stop it from bleeding. She picked up a shirt from the box and wrapped his hands with it.

“Do you know why people left you? Why your parents are being the rich parents that they are? It’s because your blunt and you only care about yourself. You think you only hurt but by what you say and do, others are hurting but you are oblivious to that. That’s why they leave, Jisoo; because you’re spoiled.”

“Maybe I am blunt and say things without filtering. But I think that’s better than keeping everything inside and blowing at moment. Because when someone is nice to another all the time and blows up once, the pain is ten times worse than when I say things that are on my mind without thinking; at least when its constant people can get used to it.” Jisoo snapped, threw the bandage roll to Leo’s face and left.

What Jisoo said was true. Leo did love to keep things to himself. He always thought he was alone in the world and everyone else was his enemy. He didn’t care for what others thought and did. He only cared for himself.

Hypocrite… Leo thought.

All the things he wanted to tell himself… he had said it to Jisoo.

 

 

The next day, Leo came into the café and saw Jisoo. She was smiling brightly at the boys who were talking about something very entertaining. He decided to walk over.

“What you guys doing?’ Leo asked as he leaned on Ken’s chair.

“Leaving. See you guys tomorrow!” Jisoo said the first word with a low emotionless tone and said the last few in a cheerful tone and smile. The boys looked at Jisoo with confusion and Leo sighed. He grabbed Jisoo wrist to stop her from leaving.

“Where are you going?” Leo asked, clenching his jaw tight.

“Away from you.” Jisoo retorted and pushed Leo away from her to leave.

 

Sadly this continued for a week. Every time Leo would enter the café, she would leave and avoid Leo. This drove Leo crazy for some reason. He knew he loved being alone and being ignored should be the best thing that happened but every time he saw Jisoo’s face transition from a smile to an emotionless straight face, he felt a small tingle in his heart.

Due to that, he was standing in front of her house at ten in the morning.

“What are you doing, Jung Taekwoon…?” Leo asked himself as he rubbed his temples, but jolted when he heard the door open.

“Why are you here?” Jisoo snapped, still standing between the door.

“I thought I should drop by.” Leo replied with an awkward smile.

“Go away.” Jisoo said as she closed the door.

“Weren’t you leaving the house?” Leo asked grabbing the door before it closed.

“I saw your face and I didn’t want to go out to say blunt things at people’s face.”

“Come on, don’t be such an about this.”

“Now I am a blunt, spoiled . I should just stay home and rot.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Oh, yes you did.”

“I’m here to apologize, please don’t make me want to go back without doing it.”

“Well I don’t want to hear anything from you.” “No.” Leo opened the door wider and got into the house, closing the door behind him.

“You are going to listen because it’s been killing me for days. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say things like that. There were a lot of things going on my head when you said it and all of it just got jumbled up. Those things, I should’ve said it to myself not you. I guess I envy that you can say things on your mind to others easily so it ticked me off. I’m sorry; I’ll do anything to make it up.”

“Anything?” Jisoo said with an evil smile that Leo knew too well of.

“Uhmmm” Leo said rubbing his temples once more and sighed. “Yeah, anything.”

“If that’s the case, why don’t you come on in, partner!” Jisoo said cheerfully as she ran inside and jumped on the couch.

“Partner?”

“Mhmm! Partner, I told you, I wanted someone to work with me in my agency.”

“Damn, forgot about that… how about we make a deal?” Leo suggested as he sat down across from her.

“A deal? What kind of deal?”

“A deal that requires both of us working for each other and no paycheck.”

“You mean like I work for you and you work for me?”

“Exactly!”

“Hmmm…” Jisoo hummed. Leo patiently waited for an answer. “Let’s make a contract so you can’t say anything tomorrow.”

“Okay we can make a contract. What is on your mind for it?”

“Some obvious stuff like ‘I will always come out when the boss calls!’ and ‘I will not get paid for my job because we work for each other!’ should be on it.” Jisoo answered as she typed those things into her tablet pc. “Oh and ‘Whatever happens do not get surprised!’ You will have many things happening to us when you work with me…”

“Why am I scared? There is no way we can go back to you being mad at me right?” Leo asked staring at the screen.

“We should also add ‘You will NEVER complain to each other!’ that way you can just it up and deal with it.” Jisoo snapped. Leo just made a face and leaned into the couch.

“Can we put something like ‘We will never fall for each other.’ though I know it will never happen of course.”

“I agree we will never do that, I think you watched too much dramas. How about ‘We both shall try to help each other find their destined lovers.’ I think that sounds more reasonable.”

“That doesn’t make sense if you can just see the strings.” Leo commented.

“Actually it does since I can’t see ours.” Jisoo responded.

“Ours? You can’t see yours?”

“Nope. Since I can’t, you can help me find a nice man and I will try to see your strings as fast as I can so I can help you with yours.”

When Leo was about to ask more questions, the door had opened and N rushed in. As he did so, he began to pull his pants down and run into the bathroom. Jisoo stared at the boy across the house and run into his house. She sighed and innerly counted to ten. When she said the last number, N came out of her room now shirtless and a different type of pants on.

“I swear I’m going to hurt you…” Jisoo said to N.

“Why the attitude?” N said as he got a bottle of water took a seat next to Jisoo.

“THIS IS MY HOUSE! STOP WALKING IN HERE THINKING THAT THIS IS YOURS AND THAT YOU ARE WELCOMED TO COME IN EVERYTIME!” Jisoo screamed in N’s ears.

“But your house is my house!” N said trying to give Jisoo a kiss.

“So why do I have to help you with the last one again?” Leo interrupted.

“Get your away from me! And because this ert is just some person I wish to get rid of.” Jisoo answered as she kicked away from her.

“You want to get rid of me?” N pouted.

“Oh yes, yes I do. I will change that passcode right now.”

“But I’m going to find out eventually. I know everything about you.”

“No you don’t since you are obviously oblivious to my hatred towards you.”

“You love me!”

“Shut up! I’m trying to do something!”

“I can leave and we can talk tomorrow at the café.” Leo interrupted once more.

“No! Don’t go! He will leave soon. Oh yeah, how old are you?” Jisoo said to stop Leo from leaving.

“I’m 24.” Leo answered.

“Four years older than me… so you’re the same age this ert over here.” Jisoo stated as she took a glance at N and shook her head. “So I’ll call you oppa!”

“Yah! I’ve known you ever since you were born and you have never called me oppa! NEVER! But you are willing to call him oppa? We are the same age! You should call him names like how you do it to me!” N complained.

“It’s fine, you can call me whatever you want…” Leo stated.

“See, he’s fine with it! Call him a ert and all that!” N complained some more.

“I call him oppa because he can be called it. You, on the other hand, is an immature and erted person that is no help in life. So please, Mr. Cha Hakyeon… go home or your club.” Jisoo commented.

“I am very upset with you!” N shouted.

“See, a mid-twenties years old will not say things like that… Look at the face Leo oppa is making…” Leo had a look of surprise at what the two was talking about.

“Fine! I’ll leave!” N said as he picked up his shirt and jacket and left the house.

“Are you sure you want to let him go like that?” Leo asked.

“He’ll be fine. He will come through this door at night asking for food.” Jisoo answered.

“Okay, if you say so…”

“Hold on…” Jisoo said before getting up and running into a room. She came back with two pieces of paper.

“You printed it already? Leo questioned.

“Of course, we need to sign it!” Jisoo said as she handed him a pen and sheet of paper. Leo signed on the designated area and handed Jisoo the paper.

“I hope I don’t die while I work with you…” Leo commented.

“You won’t I promise.”

“In that case, glad to be working with you.”

“Oh you will be…” Jisoo said with her evil smile.

That smile is definitely a bad sign… Leo thought before letting out a chuckle. .

 

 

 author's note LALALALAALALALALALALALALALA Not proofread which I shall apologize for xP hope you liked it ^^

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